Assessment of human injury risk is an important step in the design of many products. As a well-known example, the automotive industry conducts extensive testing to determine likely human injury risk experienced during automobile crashes. The industry has evolved from cadaver studies to the use of increasingly sophisticated anthropomorphic test devices (crash test dummies or human surrogates) that provide data on injury outcome measuring how human bodies react in crashes. The use of such dummies is primarily concerned with severe injuries and provides injury outcome measurement data to allow for the assessment of injury risk (e.g., fractured bones or severe head injuries). Currently, dummies provide little or no data on the risk of soft tissue bruising and/or contusion injuries.
An issue of social and forensic importance is the evaluation of less severe injuries, particularly among the elderly and children. Hospitals, agencies and courts are presented with a pattern of injuries experienced by children and elderly persons, for example, and must determine whether or not the injuries were the result of accident or abuse. Identification of bruising patterns, and/or points of contact/impact on the body, provides a roadmap of a person's exposure to force application and documents points of impact. Practical systems that document impact points on the body for evaluating the likelihood of such injuries as bruising and/or contusions of soft tissues under various conditions could provide information to aid in the determination of whether the injuries are a result of abuse or accident.